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Georgia grandmother strangles rabid bobcat to death with her bare hands

By Ray Downs
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June 17 (UPI) -- A Georgia grandmother strangled a rabid bobcat to death with her bare hands.

DeDe Phillips, 67, had just put a bumper sticker on the back of her truck that read: "Women who behave rarely make history" and was about to take a photo of it when the bobcat crept into her backyard, facing her.

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"My neighbor's dog was barking and it drew my attention," Phillips told the Athens Banner-Herald. "I saw the cat and I took a picture. The cat took two steps and was on top of me. ... It came for my face."

But Phillips fought the cat off.

"As soon as it took the first step, I was in trouble and I knew it," she told CBS 46-TV. "When it got to [the] pole, it leaped on me...I grabbed it by the shoulders and pushed it back away from me...and I took it down."

The bobcat bit and scratched but Phillips wrapped her hands around its neck and didn't let go.

"I strangled it to death," she said.

Animal Control officers came by later and found the bobcat was rabid. Phillips said she will require costly medical attention and her family set-up an online fundraiser to help pay for the treatment.

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